If your wife ( or husband ) complains to you about not finishing projects , I took out the paint can that I bought the year I got my tractor and started priming & painting parts , look at the sticky note on it , with the intent of doing the whole tractor that summer lol . At least I now have the hoe painted today , not sure if I want to do the fenders a different color or keep yellow ,I believe the engine and trans was blue from the factory and hood fenders , and loader where yellow . I don't like the yellow that I have so might not even use that or maybe it can be darkened a little . I'll do some net searching to see what color combos look good . I bought a, steering wheel , muffler , exhaust manifold , grill and some electrical parts , Putting new hoses as I go along

Your right that its bulky , my yard is all sloped , you have to keep an eye on where the hoe is, always on the upper side , I really don't have much use for it anymore but my son now has his own place ,it will be handy there , and if I ever need it I'll just bring it back .

Your right that its bulky , my yard is all sloped , you have to keep an eye on where the hoe is, always on the upper side , I really don't have much use for it anymore but my son now has his own place ,it will be handy there , and if I ever need it I'll just bring it back .

I half to watch my little 20hp kubota with the backhoe on, it's surprising how you can swing the hoe into things when driving around.

How are the joints on that hoe? The one I used back in the 70s' when I worked for the State got real sloppy fast. Was hard to control with 4 levers and no joystick. And like was aid, big, bulky and cumbersome. The loader was hard to do much finish work with as the hoe kept it bouncing all the time. I never did like that setup. Tractor and loader combination was great when we dropped the hoe off. Will be a handy item to have around for an occasional job.

Your project is coming along pretty quickly now, so what does it matter when you set it aside for more pressing issues. Sometimes a guy has to procure an item when he can and fool with it as time permits. (hence my large, spreading scrap piles of invintory...I too would vote against the yellow and blue combo on these, I wouldn't turn one down if the price was right, but not my favorite. Looking good

How are the joints on that hoe? The one I used back in the 70s' when I worked for the State got real sloppy fast. Was hard to control with 4 levers and no joystick. And like was aid, big, bulky and cumbersome. The loader was hard to do much finish work with as the hoe kept it bouncing all the time. I never did like that setup. Tractor and loader combination was great when we dropped the hoe off. Will be a handy item to have around for an occasional job.

I made some pins and bushings on the hoe back then there is still plenty of play in the bucket but not enough to effect my crappy operational skills lol. I will need to repair or replace one of the loader lift cylinders . It looks like it was seeping and someone put a big pipe wrench on the gland nut and cracked it . At least that's what it appears to have happened . Saw a used cylinder on ebay for $125 so it might cost more to get new parts from Ford to fix the one I have . The hoes main lift cylinder drifts down quick . I didn't try capping the lines to see if its the chevron v packing they use or the valve . I found out its a Pippin backhoe and the control valve has check balls and springs inside within the spools . Maybe the problem is in that system ?

Is that an enamel paint with a thinner base (use paint thinner with it)? If so see if you can find a pint/half pint can of orange or red with the same base and mix a little at a time into it to get a better yellow that you like. Then do the hoe with that. Then you can see what that looks like dry and can figure out a compatible color to offset if you want a two/tone. If so, I would paint the tractor tins and loader with the yellow and the rest in the other color.